What's on Page 56?

Rules:

1. Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
2. Turn to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post that sentence.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Mine: "Whenever we engage in daily actions such as shopping, cooking, eating, sleeping, or relaxing without a specific good or bad motivation, we are performing neutral actions."

The Happiest Place on Earth

Yesterday was my day off from work, and I spent the entire day hanging out in the the Happiest Place on Earth; aka Disneyland.

Now, I have been to Disneyworld a truckload of times thanks to the fact that 90 percent of my extended family lives in Florida. However, whenever I point this out to Californians they tend to scoff and make it perfectly clear that Disneyworld is little more than a desperate wannabe struggling to live up to Disneyland's awesome factor.

In truth, they're remarkably similar. The same rides. The same characters wandering the little paved streets. Even the same shows.

However, I don't think I'd ever been to Disneyworld during the holiday season, and seeing Disneyland all decked out in Christmas lights and decorations was a real sight to see. Especially impressive was the completely-redone Small World. Outside, the Small World castle boasted a facade-full of glittering holiday lights. Inside, the trademark dancing children had been decked out in holiday gear and spun around bearing signs that said things like "Feliz Navidad!" or, in the case of the Chinese children, "Happy New Year!"

California Adventure was a completely new experience for me. I fully admit to having been a ride-dodger throughout my teenage and young adult years. I was the girl who stood patiently on the platform holding half a dozen purses while everyone else went on the rollercoaster on top of New York New York in Las Vegas. But, since I'm trying to approach life in a different way, this time around I did all the rides right aloneside them. And they were a blast! I loved it all; especially the Hollywood Tower of Terror.

We left at about 9:30 am and didn't get back home till almost 1:00 am. It was a completely full day, jam-packed with constant walking from one "land" to the next (i.e. TomorrowLand to FrontierLand, etc). I was completely exhausted by the time we got home, but it was totally worth it.

Triumph!

NaNoWriMo, I have beaten thee.

With 34 minutes to spare, no less. That's 32 minutes more leeway than I had when I won ScriptFrenzy (the same challenge, only for scripts) back in April. Maybe next time I'll actually get the darn thing finished a whole hour before midnight!

Or maybe that's wishful thinking.

I wrote 8,500 words today alone. I'm impressed that I can still move my fingers.

Needless to say, 50k words is not really novel-length. I hit 50,129 words by 11:26pm and I've got a grand total of 94 single-spaced pages in my word processor. It's easily the longest piece of prose fiction I have ever written...but it's not really done. Basically, when I realized I was drawing scarily close to the deadline and was nowhere near done, I started jumping ahead to hit the most interesting bits. Finally, in the last stretch, I lunged straight to the final chapter. So there's a good third or so of the book that's missing in there. Ideally, it ought to wind up somewhere between 80k and 100k words, so I've got some more space that I can fill.

Not to mention a hell of a lot of editing. There are some massive chunks--I'm talking entire chapters--that just need to be burned. Fortunately NaNoWriMo is about quantity, not quality, and those absolutely horrendous sections helped me reach my word count even if they aren't exactly literary genius.

Phew. Talk about a crazy dash to the finish line. I feel a little lightheaded and a lot tired. It doesn't help that I have to work at ArcLight at 9:15 a.m tomorrow. I dislike morning shifts. And I dislike working at the snack bar. So, naturally, I am working a morning shift in the snack bar. Because ArcLight hates me.

But, hey, at least I have this snazzy little NaNoWriMo graphic that I can show off...



It's the little things.

Obsessin' 'bout Recession

I'll admit to being vaguely nervous about the economy for quite some time, but it really hit me the other day when I was watching a news story about the government bailout of Citigroup. Specifically the part when they said that just a few days earlier Citigroup was considered one of the healthier financial institutions, and had been making deals to buy out the struggling Wachovia. Then a headline today stating that the government's list of distressed financial institutions was up to 171. And, of course, the fact that just a while back my own bank (Washington Mutual) went spectacularly bust and has since been swallowed up by JP Morgan Chase.

Seriously, is anybody else freaking out right now?

Yesterday I got an email stating that the website I write for on a freelance basis is cutting their freelance fees by $50-$100 per article. They're already down to a skeleton staff and they're still looking for ways to cut costs. While I'll still be OK despite this, it's got me searching CraigsList for actual full-time jobs that might offer a bit more security than what I've got going right now. Much as I loathe the idea of rejoining the ranks of the 9-5ers, it may turn out to be unavoidable, at least for the moment. At the very least, it might help calm my anxiety about the possibility of suddenly losing one of my sources of income completely.

Freakin' economy. How dare it decide to tank right when I'm trying to strike out on my own? So inconsiderate.

Hollyweird

I feel like I've been running in circles recently, mostly thanks to my supreme lack of multitasking skills. Trying to squeeze in 3,000 words for NaNoWriMo every day while also working on my screenplay for my writing class, putting together articles for NuWire and tearing tickets at the ArcLight plays havoc with my brain.

And this afternoon some random guy on a bike stopped outside the Cinerama Dome, where I was taking tickets, and took my picture with a cell phone. Multiple times. And then rode away. It was really, really creepy. That's the downside of working in Hollywood, right on Sunset Blvd. There are a lot of super creepos hanging around...

On a different note, for those who didn't already know, I joined an as-yet-unnamed a cappella group down here in SoCal. There are five of us in it at the moment; all we need is someone to sing bass. We've been practicing a bunch of pieces, including a really fun arrangement of "Bali H'ai" from South Pacific. And we've been learning some fun Christmas songs too. I've only officially been in the group for two rehearsals, and so far I'm having a ton of fun. If any of you LA folks know (or are) a bass, drop me a line and I'll pass you along to the other members of our group for an audition!

But tonight I'll get the chance to sit back and lose myself for a while watching the TWILIGHT movie at midnight with Vicki and Monica. Yay Cullens!

My Wordcount

Today I passed the 25,000 word midpoint. I'm now over halfway to the 50,000 word NaNoWriMo goal. Only three days after the official middle of the challenge (Nov. 15). Considering I didn't get started till Nov. 8, I figure that really means I gained five days. Go me!

Behold, a lovely widget so you can track my progress:

Speed Writing

So, at the last minute, I decided I'm going to try my hand at National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year. The challenge is to write a 50,000 word "novel" during the month of November. Sadly, I didn't decide to take part in the challenge until yesterday so my word count is sadly lacking at the moment thanks to missing that first week. But hopefully I'll be able to catch up as the week progresses. We'll see just how quickly I can spur my creativity into action!

My little NaNoWriMo profile can be found here. If you're doing the challenge too, add me as a writing buddy. Or just go visit from time to time and check my word count. But not yet, because it's kind of pathetic at the moment. I make no promises that I'll hit the 50k goal, since I got started late, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Now back to writing.